Full Description
It’s no surprise that eating disorders send parents into a panic. Even for kids getting professional help, family meals all too often end in raised voices and slammed doors when making a child eat doesn't work. In this powerfully compassionate book, psychologist Tom Wooldridge guides parents to take a different path. Dr. Wooldridge explains how eating disorder symptoms are fueled by out-of-control emotions that kids and teens can't put into words, and teaches specific parenting strategies that can help. Using guided practices and reflection prompts, parents learn to slow down their own emotional reactivity and remain present and attuned, no matter how impossible it feels. Vivid stories illustrate what it looks like to replace control with connection--and how it opens the door to recovery.
Contents
Foreword, Susie Orbach
Introduction
I. Understanding What’s Happening
1. Why It’s Not Just about Food
2. When Parents Feel Powerless
3. The Role of the Parent in Recovery
II. The Emotional Terrain of Attuned Parenting
4. The Hungry Self and the Silent Child
5. Reflection in the Rupture
6. The Unspoken Conversation
7. Grief, Guilt, and the Ghosts of Parenting
III. Parenting as Practice
8. Staying Close without Taking Over
9. Repairing the Breaks
10. Attunement Over Time
11. When You Need Help
Resources
Index
